Starter Off Grid Set Up

BASIC (ALMOST) OFF GRID CAMP SET UP FOR PUNA AREA
This is what we got started with. We will include updates to the list as we add more items.

Power and Lighting
1) 2000 Watt Yamaha Generator/ inverter style. This generator is very quiet.
2) Two Deep Cycle Marine Batteries left outside the house (they release hydrogen gas, highly flammable).
3) Craftsman 10amp Battery Charger.
4) 12volt cigarette lighter attachment mounted inside the house, wires ran outside to the batteries. DC to AC inverter plugs into 12volt cigarette lighter (for most efficiency whenever possible use DC alternative items. DC to AC inverter uses power to transfer, which results in some power loss).
5) Two Strings of LED Christmas lights, strung inside provide us with low energy consumption light.
6) Rechargeable solar lights outside.
7) Car Stereo wired to the batteries for music.

Cooking, Garbage and Bathroom Facilities  (Outdoors)
1) Cooler and ice for food storage.
2) Propane grill for cooking. All food scraps go into a composting bin.
3) Recyclables are separated into gray bins.
4) Trash and recyclables are taken to the local transfer station. This is a free service. Hi 5 redemption is available here as well.
5) A 5 gallon hanging solar shower bag, on a pulley system. We usually need to heat the  water on cloudy days.
6) A large tarp running over outdoor area catches water, the run-off we let fall into a 5 gallon bucket and use this water only for showering or gray water purposes.
7) Four 7 gallon aqua containers we fill with county water for drinking and cooking. County water is a free service. If containers are stored outside I would recommend covering the spout with a zip lock bag to keep slugs from going into the spout, if your keeping them outdoors.
8) We have a sink mounted to guava trees for the purpose of teeth brushing, face washing, ect.
9) A composting toilet, which consists of a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat mounted to the top. If kept outdoors the system can be built into a wooden box to keep rain out. This is a waterless system. Saw dust is used to cover waste after each use. When the bucket reaches full capacity, contents are transferred into a larger long term composting bin. Once large bin is filled one additional year of composting time is recommended.

12/15/2011 Some Upgrades We Have Added To Our Set Up (Indoors)
We have now enlarged our place to a 16ft by 8ft and have made a little kitchen and bathroom indoors.
1) 5.3 Cubic ft. Black and Decker chest freezer instead of ice cooler. Used as a chest freezer this unit uses 196 kilowatt hours per year. We will be using it as a refrigerator, using a beer brewing thermostat to maintain refrigerator temperatures. The unit uses much less power this way. It is also more efficient than a traditional fridge because there is less cold air fall out when the door is opened from the top instead of the front.
2) 800 Watt Cobra inverter. This inverter has the ability to run a start up load of 1600 watts. The freezer only uses 110 watts when on, but as a start up load of 960 watts, which blows out the smaller inverter.

3/26/2011  Some More Upgrades
1) Propane Stove with oven, for use indoors.
2) 7.5 Propane fridge with top freezer.  Unfortunately the chest freezer used a bit more power than we expected.  It is still a great resource but for our limited power the propane is better.
3) 20 gallon/100lb propane tank.
4) 250 watt solar panel.
5) Charge Controller.
6) 22 inch LED Vizio TV (for entertainment)
7) 65 gallon catchment container.
8) Dave has built on a small bathroom with a sink and shower. We use the water we catch from the gutters on the roof, which runs into a catchment container and is then moved by a 12 volt RV Pressure Pump and hooked directly to the car batteries.
9) Dave also took and old electric water heater tank, removed the insulation, and sprayed painted it black.  He installed it onto the roof, it holds about 30 gallons of water which is never hot, but pretty warm around 2pm  for showering.  We still do not have access to hot water unless we boil it.

So far this set-up gives us enough power to watch a couple hours of TV a night, to run our LED inside lights at will, charge our needed devices, phones and computers ect. and play the radio when we want.  We still throw the generator out at night occasionally, if it's been raining quite a bit.  We could definitely use a larger catchment container at this point.  We still have to really ration our catchment water for showering and washing dishes. We still haul water for drinking, about once a week.  Usually we fill up five 7 gallon aqua containers.